The much-talked about road course is coming to Thompson Speedway, but short-track racing is not leaving.

The Director of Marketing for Thompson Speedway, Jonathan Hoenig, said on Thursday that the plans and the financing are now in place to restore the road course that was abandoned by the Speedway in 1978. It is now scheduled to open in the spring of 2014. But its return will not come at the expense of the weekly racing series nor the NASCAR touring series events that normally populate the facility.

That was the concern of drivers, fans and even employees of the track at the end of last season. There were web-based reports that Thompson would do away with its weekly racing programs because of poor car counts and the increased concentration, both in money and manpower, on the revamped road course.

“We plan to continue short-track racing, that was never really in question,” Hoenig said.

Those fears officially became moot for this season on Thursday when the Speedway released its 2013 schedule, which includes its weekly racing program beginning with a special Sunday show on May 19 (with a Modified Racing Series 75-lap feature included) and ending on Aug. 29. There will be two Modified Racing Series events (the other will take place on July 25) and three Whelen Modified Tour events; the Icebreaker on April 14, the Bud 150 on Aug. 15 and the World Series of Auto Racing on Oct. 20. The track decided not to continue the “Showdown” race in September between the Whelen Northern and Whelen Southern Modified Tours.

“The race was a success, but not a financial success,” Hoenig said. “It’s difficult to have two Tours in at the same time and while it was a good crowd event, it did not offset the cost.”

In the end, that’s what the road course is meant to help with, bringing in money from other sources, but it takes money to make money and the Speedway is making a large investment to put the 1.7-mile course back in operation.

“It won’t be changing much from the old configuration,” Hoenig said. “We’re just adding up-to-date barriers and making some variations in some of the turns.”

The Speedway will begin to repave the course this year as well as add some new garages, buildings and offices, but Hoenig said the new construction will not hamper the racing schedule. In fact, it may enhance it as the pit and paddock areas will be improved.

“The parking will still be the same. It won’t affect any of the operations,” Hoenig said.

The road course is not being developed as a race course and although it will certainly be capable of hosting such an event, Hoenig said there are no plans to do so. He said he has received commitments from car clubs who want to rent the facility and also expects to see manufacturers to use it to test cars and for high-performance driving lessons, shooting of commercials and the like.

Page 2 of 2 -
“We’re not looking to increase traffic, just our product,” Hoenig said. “There will be less noise than there is with our NASCAR racing.”